It Is OK To Make Fun Of Louie Gohmert

Louie Gohmert, Congressman from Texas, is a man of… words. Not few words, and certainly not intelligent words. His words have a funny habit of coming together and almost, just almost, looking like a sentence that makes sense, but they always miss the mark. Like when he claimed that Al-Queda was training people to “come in and act like they’re Hispanic when really they’re radical Islamists.” Or when claimed that “You follow me around the world, you see me hugging Muslims around the world.” Or most famously, when he claimed that then Attorney General Eric Holder had “cast aspersions on my asparagus”.

Yes, Louie Gohmert says many words. And while disorganized and random as they may appear, they at least have the consistent quality of being offensive. Recently, Louie Gohmert decided to the joy of no one to speak more words, this time on Hillary Clinton. Representative Gohmert proclaimed “Hillary Clinton is mentally impaired”.

He was close this time. His sentence aaaaalmost made sense. In fact, on the surface, there’s nothing inherently wrong from it. It was a noun and a verb and the grammars correct and everything! The only problem is that Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Nominee for President, who graduated from Yale Law School, and has served has First Lady, Senator, and Secretary of State, is very clearly not mentally impaired.

It is unclear what purpose Representative Gohmert had in making these comments. Perhaps, as a loyal republican, he sought to contrast Secretary Clinton as unintelligent next to the man to the man who doesn’t know what the nuclear triad is. Perhaps by claiming people should not make fun of her because she is mentally while simultaneously mocking the notion of mental impairment, all the while being a stupid person calling someone stupid, he was hoping to create a situation so ironic it would tear a hole in the fabric of space and time.

Through the offensive word choice, and looking past whatever intention he had behind his words, Louie Gohmerts words can be boiled down to one simple idea: “Clinton stupid ha ha ha”. Gohmert, in a moment of beautiful ignorance, thinks that the intellectual shortcomings are hilarious, and people who make them should be mocked in an open forum. And if he believes that doing so is all in good fun, than anyone should feel the same way towards him. So share a laugh with, or more likely at, the congressman who felt calling a candidate for president “mentally impaired” was appropriate and inoffensive.  

Just don’t mess with his asparagus.